


Plush Penguins Love Gummy Fish

by FollowTheFirefly



Category: Persona 4
Genre: F/M, based on some headcanons, sleepover date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 21:26:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5800726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FollowTheFirefly/pseuds/FollowTheFirefly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Kanji and Naoto realize they have a bit more in common than they thought when Naoto spends the night at Kanji's house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Plush Penguins Love Gummy Fish

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to take a break from the Kiddway writing and work on some KanNao ideas I've been mulling over. This is inspired mostly by my own headcanons and quite honestly, I just wanted to write this situation but I think it all works out in the end.

They both expected it to be terrible. After all, he couldn’t help but be a bit nervous around her and she wasn’t exactly the greatest at expressing herself. Especially since this was a sort of last minute date, if one could even call it that.

They’d been studying at the Shirogane estate when Naoto’s grandfather stopped by the library to tell her that he had been called for an emergency consultation outside of Inaba and would be away for a few days. The problem was that Yakushiji would have to go with him. Naoto would be by herself, something that she knew would cause her grandfather to worry. Kanji had suggested that she stayed at house, knowing that his mother wouldn’t mind it much. 

And so a few days later, Naoto found herself standing on Kanji’s doorstep, being more than a little nervous. She and Kanji hadn’t been “official”, as Rise would put it, for very long. Just under two weeks, in fact. She was certainly not prepared to meet his mother so soon, but she was really left with no other choice and was grateful that she allowed her to stay with such short notice.

Realizing that she shouldn’t be waiting any longer, she knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer it. Mere seconds later, she heard a frantic, “Coming!” from inside and hurried footsteps before the door swung open and Kanji was standing in front of her, slightly winded from his obvious dash to the front door to greet her.

As soon as he saw Naoto, Kanji found that his nervous self had taken over again, just like it always did when he was around Naoto. She thought that he was getting better as time moved on and she’d made some progress since they’d started dating as well, but perhaps they still had a ways to go.

“It’s not like we hadn’t planned this, Kanji-kun,” Naoto had to smile a bit at the situation. 

“I seriously didn’t think ya’d actually show up,” Kanji rubbed the back of his neck before stepping back and letting Naoto inside. 

Of course Naoto had just walked inside and barely had time to slip off her shoes before Kanji’s mother burst into the hallway, eager to meet the girl that her son had been talking about for days on end. Naoto hadn’t expected a barrage of questions as soon as she walked through the front door and wasn’t quite sure how she was meant to answer them. Kanji quickly intervened, sensing her mounting unease, and managed to calm his mother down without too much trouble.

“Sorry about Ma,” Kanji apologized half an hour later when they were finally making their way upstairs and his mother was reading a book in the living room. “She just gets excited when I brings friends over.” He rolled his eyes and added, “She acts like I don’t have any at all. Which is stupid because Yu and Chie come over a lot.”

“Why does she think that?” Naoto frowned as Kanji wordlessly grabbed one of the bags in her hand and flung it over his shoulder with ease. “She’s seen you with all of us before. And you go out with Rise quite often, as well.”

“Yeah, but Rise doesn’t mean as much to me as you do,” Kanji’s face was growing redder by the second.

“I see,” Naoto said simply, not sure how to respond to his remark.

After a few more steps, they reached a sliding door with pictures of bunnies and owls taped to the panels. Clearly this was Kanji’s room, no mistake about it.

“Ma gave me hell when I put these on the door,” Kanji grimaced, sliding the door open. “Go on in. Not that there’s much to it, anyway.”

Somehow, it was exactly as Naoto expected Kanji’s bedroom to look like. It was a strange mix of his outer ‘tough-guy’ appearance with skulls and crossbones that clashed strangely with the sewing supplies and plush toys scattered around the room. He’d even arranged some potted plants by the window, each flourishing in the sun. 

“Ma keeps getting them at Junes,” Kanji saw Naoto looking at a group of ferns.

“I wasn’t aware that Junes sold house plants,” Naoto commented, running her fingers on the smooth leaves of the plant.

“She has more downstairs if you want any,” Kanji added, taking her bag and tossing it on the bed. “I was in the middle of cleaning up when you got here.” He shrugged and said, “Sorry it’s a bit of a mess.”

“Were you working on a new project?” Naoto had discovered the sewing table covered with scraps of fabric, spools of thread, and enough needles to stock a craft store.

“Yeah, I decided to make a friend for Emperor Napoleon,” Kanji said as if it made perfect since, which Naoto assumed it did to him.

“Emperor Napoleon?” Naoto had to admit that she was more than a little confused.

Without a word, Kanji picked up a plush penguin toy from the bed and held it up for Naoto to see. It was a cute penguin, though he had clearly seen better days. One of his wings had apparently been sewn back on with bright red thread, the beak had faded with age, and the black button eyes had lost their shine. Naoto realized that perhaps this was a favourite toy of Kanji’s when he was growing up.

“Emperor Napoleon,” Kanji said with a bit of an embarrassed grin.

“Did you make him?” Naoto sat down on the bed, taking the plush toy in her hand.

“He was the first I ever made,” Kanji was clearly proud of his accomplishment. “He’s been through hell and I’ve patched him up more times than I can count, but he’s my favourite of the one’s I’ve made.”

“I think you did a great job with him, Kanji-kun,” Naoto said, holding the penguin on her knees and making his wings flap up and down with her hands.

“Ya really think so?” Kanji seemed surprised.

“What’s his friend going to be named?” Naoto asked, pulling the toy into her lap.

“Marie. For Marie Antoinette, you know?” Kanji sat down next to her. “When I was a kid, I had this idea that they would go swimming all day and eat gummy fish when they got back home. Kinda silly, now that I think about it.”

“Gummy fish?” Naoto questioned.

“Ya know, those little gummies that Teddie always eats?” Kanji told her. “But with fish instead of bears?”

“I see,” Naoto said.

“Never heard of them?” Kanji couldn’t possibly imagine how anyone couldn’t have heard of gummy fish. “I mean, I always thought you were really into sweets and all.”

Naoto silently reached for her bag at the end of the bed. Zipping it open, she shifted through the various contents and produced two bags of gummy fish in an assortment of bright colours.

“One for me and one for you,” she offered him a little smile as she handed him the bag of gummy candies.

“I didn’t think you’d like something so childlike,” Kanji decided that this was the appropriate word.

“I never liked them much when I was a child. Grandfather would buy me some as a treat on occasion and I ate them to be polite,” Naoto shook her head as she opened her own bag of sweets. “As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned that they’re not so bad after all.”

“Imagine Rise if she was here,” Kanji said as he bit the head off an orange fish.

“One more thing I’d like to avoid,” Naoto said.

“Hey, you don’t tell her about Emperor Napoleon and I won’t tell her about the gummies,” Kanji said, playing with two green gummies.

“Agreed,” Naoto nodded as she handed the plush penguin back to Kanji. “But maybe giving him gummy fish isn’t a good idea in the end.”


End file.
